Coping during Quarantine.

First of all, I would like to say I hope you are all doing well and that your families are just as safe. For everyone that has lost someone or are feeling alone, I am sorry. I am sorry this has happened to you, I am sorry this is happening to everyone. But at the same time, I am grateful, grateful for the support from communities and key workers. We have all come together to create a better future for us and our planet. I hope that we can carry on like this after we come through this tough time. Everyone keeps talking about how they cannot wait to get back to normal, whereas I hope we don’t. The world has become closer and people are more caring and compassionate to strangers, I hope that this is our new normal. Not the selfish ways we saw before.

But for now, back to art!

As an artist in the beginning I came across a creative block, I couldn’t go out and explore the places I usually explored leaving me without creating new work. After a few gloom weeks of feeling sorry for myself I decided to shake it up and revisit some of my old work. The work that every artist has, the back of the draw job. I created a whole new station for my archives and began working my way through them to discover new routes that I didn’t notice before. And surprisingly it worked! I have started a few new projects and began a few collaborations which is properly the most excited I have been about my work since finishing my degree at the University of Salford. Is it bad to say that I hope it goes on a little bit longer as I finally have stuff to do…?

Some of the work is following on from the previous projects you will have seen, but I am also beginning my response to the COVID-19 outbreak I have a few ideas so I cannot wait to start shooting.

I saw this ‘Lockdown lingo’ circulating around social media, this isn’t mine but I thought it would be a funny read! The Coronacoaster is a real thing I swear!

‘Lockdown lingo’- are you fully conversant with the new terminology? Here are a few terms to get you in the groove:CoronacoasterThe ups and downs of your mood during the pandemic. You’re loving lockdown one minute but suddenly weepy with anxiety the next. It truly is “an emotional coronacoaster”.QuarantinisExperimental cocktails mixed from whatever random ingredients you have left in the house. The boozy equivalent of a store cupboard supper. Southern Comfort and Ribena quarantini with a glacé cherry garnish, anyone? These are sipped at “locktail hour”, ie. wine o’clock during lockdown, which seems to be creeping earlier with each passing week.Blue Skype thinkingA work brainstorming session which takes place over a videoconferencing app. Such meetings might also be termed a “Zoomposium”. Naturally, they are to be avoided if at all possible.Le Creuset wristIt’s the new “avocado hand” - an aching arm after taking one’s best saucepan outside to bang during the weekly ‘Clap For Carers.’ It might be heavy but you’re keen to impress the neighbours with your high-quality kitchenware.CoronialsAs opposed to millennials, this refers to the future generation of babies conceived or born during coronavirus quarantine. They might also become known as “Generation C” or, more spookily, “Children of the Quarn”.Furlough MerlotWine consumed in an attempt to relieve the frustration of not working. Also known as “bored-eaux” or “cabernet tedium”.CoronadoseAn overdose of bad news from consuming too much media during a time of crisis. Can result in a “panicdemic.Quentin QuarantinoAn attention-seeker using their time in lockdown to make amateur films which they’re convinced are funnier and cleverer than they actually are.CovidiotOne who ignores public health advice or behaves with reckless disregard for the safety of others can be said to display “covidiocy” or be “covidiotic”. Also called a “lockclown” or even a “Wuhan-ker”.GoutbreakThe sudden fear that you’ve consumed so much wine, cheese, home-made cake and Easter chocolate in lockdown that your ankles are swelling up like a medieval king’s.Antisocial distancingUsing health precautions as an excuse for snubbing neighbours and generally ignoring people you find irritating.Coughin’ dodgerSomeone so alarmed by an innocuous splutter or throat-clear that they back away in terror.Mask-araExtra make-up applied to "make one's eyes pop" before venturing out in public wearing a face mask.

I am curious how my fellow artists are getting on. Comment down below, tell me how you are staying motivated!